Chapter 73.2

Chapter 73.2. The Hidden Temple

-???’s POV-

“Surely it’s strange that his descendants are in a pinch, so I’m coming to pick up the treasure, but the monsters are standing in their way.”

“Are you saying something silly? At this rate, we will run out of magic stones on hand. You must join the battle too, Loki!”

The old man yells at the man in the suit next to him, the man is watching the battle at ease and doing nothing. The man in the suit smiles coldly and shrugs.

“My only job was to unseal this temple, though.”

The old man’s expression changes to exasperation at the teasing tone.

“You must have failed to break the seal! Otherwise, I don’t think the monsters would have attacked!”

“I didn’t fail. I failed to break the seal a little bit on purpose. I had to move king mantis and scissors mantis. Duke Kanna needed a massacre. If we had completely unsealed the seal, king mantis would have been an ornament. You would have taken the offer. I was the one who successfully led him outside.”

“Heck. According to the oral traditions I had gathered, the only guardian deities of the temple were king mantis and its children. There was a king mantis and an egg at the entrance. I didn’t think there would be monsters even after we got rid of them…”

“Right? Then you’re wrong to blame me.”

The man in the suit says to the old man, who looks as if he’s biting a bitter bug as if he’s hit a sore spot. The old man waves his cane dismissively.

“That face, that behavior. It’s frustrating.”

“Can you please stop taking it out on me?”

The face of the man in the suit who was laughing was the man who was giving a speech on the balcony of the imperial castle earlier. That is, it belongs to the emperor.

His hair is mixed with gray hairs, but still full of vitality, and his sharp eyes are like an eagle’s. His face is intimidating as if expressing a strong will.

“Hmmm. I’ll have to transform into an emperor to enter this temple, I’m afraid.”

A man in a suit, touching the sword at his waist with one hand, replies in a frivolous tone different from his image. His name is Loki.

He’s a [Trickster] who seeks confusion. He’s a magician who can transform into any human or monster, and even draws out latent abilities that he doesn’t know. If today he has destroyed a drug ring, tomorrow he will capture a human being and sell him to a backroom slaver. He’s the son of a fallen nobleman and thinks he’s a hero, but instead, he disguises himself as a rich man’s daughter and kills orphans as a prank. He’s also a mercenary magician hired for money by bad guys and good guys.

He’s a notorious but capricious magician. He’s Loki, and no one could ever know his true identity.

“Well, there are the magical tools you want in the back of this place, aren’t there? I hear Duke Kanna will use the treasure, and I get a special seat at the table to watch this Japan wreak havoc. It’s a win-win relationship.”

Loki knows Duke Kanna’s strategy for the future. It’s the same for the old man in front of him. Everyone was acting for their benefit. Loki, though, was in it for fun.

“It sounds really fun, trying to have more power than the royal family. This country will be in turmoil, and I’m thrilled to think of the fun future that awaits us, with all the tragedies and joys, heroic tales and downfalls that will come out of it.”

Loki hugs his body and becomes ecstatic. His appearance was somewhat disconcerting, for he’s in the emperor’s form.

“Then that’s exactly why we’ll get wiped out if we don’t. We’re about to run out of magic stones. We must consider retreat.”

“That’s not good. But isn’t it about time we were at the very end?”

Having finally eliminated the insect monsters, Loki squints to see deeper into the hallway as he hears the roars of victory from the monsters the old man and his men have been using.

He could see the end of the passageway with his enhanced eyesight, but there was a large door, probably made of mithril. He expected it to be the last seal because it has powerful mana.

“Heck. I can see it too. But the monster standing in front of that door is troublesome.”

There stood a five meter tall beetle with a golden exoskeleton on its body. It stood dexterously on 2 legs, and its multiple forelegs, which were human hand replacements, held swords and shields.

The 3 magnificent horns on its head gleamed, and from its mighty guise, one could tell at a glance that it was the last guardian to guard the door.

“It’s [Hercules Knight]. I’ve never seen it before. I’ve read about it in the literature.”

“Me too. He’s a mythical monster. He’s very strong.”

Loki gulps and looks at the nervous, frightened old man with a wry smile.

“I’ll join you in that fight. It’s going to be tough. Besides, we have to hurry. It’ll be a stampede, and all hell will break loose out there, but even so, we can’t take too long.”

“Hmph. That’s 10,000 scissors mantis. It’s not a mess that can be fixed just in 1 day. But you have a point. Let’s take it down quickly.”

“Yes, sir.”

Loki drew his sword from its sheath. The old men also readied their staffs to cast the demons.

Loki and his men fought a fierce battle against the last of the guardians.